Transcript of Sentencing Hearing for Sami-Al-Arian

Before The Honorable James S. Moody, Jr., United States District Judge

Tampa, Florida

May 1, 2006

Judge Moody:

Dr. Al-Arian, as usual, you speak very eloquently. I find it interesting that here in public in front of everyone you praised this country, the same country that in private you referred to as "the great Satan"; but that's just evidence of how you operate in the face of your friends and neighbors.  You are a master manipulator. You looked your neighbors in the eyes and said you had nothing to do with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This trial exposed that as a lie.

Your back-up claim is that your efforts were only to provide charities for widows and orphans. That, too, is a lie. The evidence was clear in this case that you were a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. You were on the board of directors and an officer, the secretary. Directors control the actions of an organization, even the PIJ; and you were an active leader.

When Iran, the major funding source of the PIJ, became upset because the PIJ could not account for how it was spending its money, it was to your board of directors that it went to demand changes. Iran wanted its representative to have a say in how its money was spent. To stop that, you leaped into action. You offered to rewrite the bylaws of the organization. You proposed that all PIJ funds be controlled by a three-person committee, of which you would be one of the three. You made calls to fellow directors all over the world to gather support. This committee would account for Iran's money, all to keep the money flowing.

But when it came to blowing up women and children on buses, did you leap into action then? Did you offer to form a committee to protect the innocent? Did you call your fellow directors and enlist their aid in stopping the bombing or even to stop the targeting of the innocent? No. You lifted not one finger, made not one phone call. To the contrary, you laughed when you heard about the bombings, what you euphemistically call "operations." You even pleaded for donations to pay for more such operations.

I'll give a specific example: On January 22nd, 1995, in Beit Lid, there was a double suicide bombing claimed by the PIJ. The bombings occurred at a busy bus transfer station. People, including women and children, were milling about waiting for their buses. When one pulled up -- not a particular bus, a random bus -- the first bomb was detonated, killing passengers and bystanders alike. The second bomber waited ten minutes or so and blew up the ambulance crews and other bystanders who had rushed in to help the wounded and dying. Anyone with even the slightest bit of human compassion would be sickened. Not you. You saw it as an opportunity to solicit more money to carry out more bombings. You composed a letter to a member of the Kuwait legislature. Your true attitude is best described by your own words, and I quote: "The latest operation carried out by the two mujahideen who were martyred for the sake of God is the best guide and witness to what the believing few can do in the face of Arab and Islamic collapse at the heels of the Zionist enemy and in keeping the flame of faith, steadfastness, and defiance glowing. I call upon you to try to extend true support of the jihad effort in Palestine so that operations such as these can continue."

And yet, still in the face of your own words, you continue to lie to your friends and supporters, claiming to abhor violence and to seek only aid for widows and orphans. Your only connection to widows and orphans is that you create them, even among the Palestinians; and you create them, not by sending your children to blow themselves out of existence. No. You exhort others to send their children. Your children attend the finest universities this country has to offer while you raise money to blow up the children of others.

You are indeed a master manipulator.